SBI employees have sent two indictments to court in cases of illegal tree felling: the first one – against an official of a forestry enterprise in Zakarpattia, who caused damage worth UAH 1.5 million, and the second – against a forester and two forest masters of the Beregomet Forestry and Hunting Enterprise, who caused almost UAH 3.7 million in losses to the state.
This was reported by the State Bureau of Investigation.
The defendant in the first case did nothing to prevent illegal logging, identify and prosecute offenders, or report illegal logging to the management. His inaction led to the destruction of 80 trees of various species without permits and logging tickets in several areas of the forestry.
The forester even tried to conceal the crime by stamping the stumps of the illegally felled trees, although there were no permits for such actions. He is accused of abuse of office and improper performance of duties (Part 2 of Article 364, Part 1 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The sanction of the article provides for punishment in the form of imprisonment for up to 6 years.
The court imposed a preventive measure on the official and suspended him from performing his duties. In order to compensate for the damage caused, the SBI filed a civil lawsuit for the amount of the damage caused.
The extras in the second case falsified documents regarding the need for sanitary selective felling of trees that were healthy and should not have been felled. They indicated in the documents false data regarding the condition and volume of cut timber in order to artificially create a surplus of it.
The private company of the forester's sister was engaged in direct felling of the forest. He managed the works himself, as if on her behalf, and concluded contracts with the forest farm. According to this scheme, the attackers managed to illegally cut down and later sell 206 trees.
Offending officials were fired. In order to compensate the state for damages, the court, in particular, seized their vehicles.
Dilk is accused of abuse of official authority, which caused grave consequences, committed by an organized group of persons, forgery by a prior conspiracy by a group of persons, and illegal felling of trees in forests, committed repeatedly, which caused grave consequences, by a prior conspiracy by a group of persons (part 3 of Article Article 28, Article 28, Article 246 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The sanction of the articles provides for punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of up to 10 years.
Previously, EсoPolitiс already reported on the persons involved in the second case, whose criminal activities were exposed by the State Security Bureau. In less than a month, the bureau's employees completed the pre-trial investigation of this case.
